Process of strengthening and ornamenting articles molded from amber or ambroid.



No. v6o,192.f"` "PATENTED' MAY 1v, 1904.

E.: L. QM I I .UEE.Y PROCESS 0ESTRENGTEENINGEN1D-@ENEMENTING- ARTICLES MOLDED PROM' AMBER 0E:Amm1w1D-.A f f APPLICATION FILED JAN. 27,1904.

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' as will enable others skilled in the art to which t UNITED STATES Patented May 17, 1904.

PATENT GEETCE.

`EDWARD L. GAYLCRD, or` BRIDGEPCRT, COMIECTICUT.-`

PROCSS F STRENGTHENING AND ORNAMENTING ARTICLES MOLDED` FROM AMBER 0R -MBROID.

SPECIFICATION forming"part of Letters Patent No. 760,192, dated May 17, 1904.

\ Application filed January 27, 1904.

T0 all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, EDWARD L. GAYLORD, acitizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State4 of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Strengthening and Ornamenting Articles Moldedjfrom Amber or Ambroid; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such it appertains to make and use the same.

lMy invention relates to the strengthening and ornamentation of articles made from amber or ambroid; and it consists in certain vnovel lmethods or processes which are particularly pointed out in the claims which are appended to lthis description.

The following is a description of my improved method in the form in which I now prefer to practice it, and although I have shown and will hereinafter describe suitable molds whereby my process may be carried out for the purpose of producing a stem or mouthpiece for a pipe, it will of course be readily understood that my process is not limited to the production of any particular article, and I therefore do not wish to be limited in this respect. Likewise it will be understood that my claims are not limited to the employment of any particular apparatus and that the process herein described may be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit of my invention and withoutfeX-- horizontal sectional view taken through the primary heating-chamber and mold-case and with the top section of the heating-jacket re- Serial No. 190,856. (No specimens.) l

moved; Fig. 3, a vertical sectionalY elevation of the apparatus shown atFig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively detail elevations of oppospective showing a form of strengthening or reinforcing band.

Similar numbers of reference denote like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

- In an application for Letters Patent of the` United States, led by me December 1, 1903,

claimed theidentical method of molding artijcles from amber or ambroid which is employed by me in connection with the present invention, and therefore I do not wish to be understood as claiming hereinany processof mold` 4ing amber or ambroid, since my present inven process of molding.

In carrying out my present invention I pre- Vfer to employ a primary heating-chamber 1,"

which has a longitudinal opening or chamber,

2, circular in cross-section and'highly polished,

-within which chamber is a plug 3, also highly Serial No. 183,376, I have described and ytion is limited to the process of strengthening v'orornamenting the amber article `during the 'polished and fitting the opening 2 with the. Y greatest nicety, s ol as to Vbe practically air and gas tight. a the opening 2,and abuts against said plug,

4 `is a plunger which ,fits within 8o In the drawings I have shown a mold-case" 45, which has a tapered longitudinal opening 6 therethrough, said opening being circular in cross-section and highly polished. The particular mold for the main portion'fof the. stem* ismade intwo halves 7 8, adapted to fit together with the greatestnicety, and the eXte- A rior surfaces Vofnthlese halves when fitted to gether 'are circular in'` cross 4 section and are A tapering, -softhat maybeforced within the mold-case'ff the action of the tapered surall thebeiieiits that might arise from the use'.v

of,y a single mold and at the same time preserve all the advantages of a sectional mold.

oldsI and case being to unite the 9 is a third section of the mold, whichis inserted snugly within the larger endgofgthe opening in the mold-case and extendsv within *the molds 7 8 and is formed with a central IOO -the short stem of the pipe bowl, and in the present drawings I have illustrated the manner in which my process is applied for the purpose of strengthening and yornamenting this particular portion. I therefore strengthen or ornament this portion by means of a ring or j band 11 of metal, which is placed snugly within the main mold adjacent to the section 9, which ring or band may be plain or it may be ornamental, as shown, and withv an open-work pattern.

12 is a disk snugly contained within the smaller end of the opening in the mold-case.

.The ends of the mold-case are finished very accurately and are highly polished, and I employ closure-caps 13 14C, whose surfaces are likewise highly polished, which caps are abutted against the ends` of the mold-case, so as to make the latter perfectly air-tight.

The mold-case, the closure-caps, and the primary heatingchamber are all contained snugly within a heating-jacket composed of two sections 15 16, provided with a series of openings 17 18 for the introduction of aheating agent, and these sections of the heatingjacket are held rmly together in any suitable Y manner.

, 19 is the core-pin, which is supported at its ends by the closure-caps 13 14. The closurecap 14 is provided with minute perforations 20, which establish communication between the primary heating-chamber and the interior of the mold, while` at the other end of the` mold small ducts 21 lead from the interior of the mold to the outside of the disk 12.

I employ pressure-blocks 22 23, which bear against the closure-cap 13 and the primary heating-chamber, so that the various parts of the molding apparatus will be held firmly together.

The apparatus which I have above described is the apparatus which I prefer to utilize in carrying out my present process and is also the apparatus which is shown and described in my pending application above referred to, and therefore it is not believed that any detailed description of the operation of this apparatus or of the molding of the amber thereby is necessary in the present application.

Amber is a very brittle substance, and hitherto this peculiarity has rendered it unsuitable for a great many uses, although its nonsolvent and non -absorbent qualities would otherwise render it well adapted for such uses to a marked degree. The nature of amber is such that manual application of strengthening material is not practicable. In my present process when the amber is introduced within the molds in a powdered form it will pack very closely against the strengtheningband, but will not get between the outer sul'- face of this band and the mold itself, so that when the final heat is applied to the mold the powdered amber will become an integral moldable mass and will be-fiush with the outer surface of the strengthening-band, while the expansion of the amber will cause the strengthening-band to be firmly embedded in the completed article.

By my present process it becomes a coniparatively easy matter to produce at a reason able cost a greatvariety of articles strengthened and ornamented as may be desired. In this connection I would state that the metal strengthening and ornamenting strip or band may have jewels set therein, which jewels will be firmly held in place by the setting and will likewise be embedded in the amber during the process of molding. I am enabled to strengthen and ornament articles made of amber by gold or silver, or I can use cheaper metals, which may thereafter be plated with gold or silver, since amber is non-solvent and electroplating may be accomplished without injury to the article.

Itis of course not necessary that a band such as is shown be employed to strengthen or ornament the article, since any suitable shape or pattern may be employed in this respect, and it will of course be readily understood that this depends upon the nature of the article to be produced and the particular shape of the parts to be strengthened or ornamented.

I am aware that it is not new to plate or cover metal articles with substances such as rubber or Celluloid and also that it is not new to inclose ornaments between sections of plastic or glutinous materials that are transparent and are consolidated by means of heat or pressure, and therefore I disclaim such processes or articles.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, isy 1. The process of strengthening or ornamenting articles molded from amber or ambroid, which consists in placing metallic portions in a mold with powdered amber densely packed and heating the same to the required temperature.

2. The process of strengthening or orna- Inenting articles molded from amber or ambroid, which consists in confining the gum in adensely-packed atomized form in direct contact with metallic reinforcing portions, and heating the gum while in this state until it becomes moldable and has adapted itself to the proper shape.

3. The process of strengthening articles IOO lIO

IO sists in confining the Strengthening metallic portions and densely-packed powdered amber within a suitable mold and then heating the amber to the required temperature.Y

In testimony whereof I aix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD L. GAYLORD;

Witnesses:

F. W. SMITH, J r., M. T. LoNGDEN. 

